The future of food

Conference for young farmers draws some new blood—ours.

By Kaitlin Harrigan

Forty-five percent of American farmers are age 45 or older, which raises the question of who will take on the essential work of producing our food. One answer to this question will be the members of the National FFA Organization, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America.

High school and middle school FFA members from every state turned out in force October 21-25, 2008 for the organization’s 81st annual convention, held at the colossal Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. More than 53,000 people attended, and the scene was a sea of navy blue corduroy jackets emblazoned with the FFA insignia, as well as each member’s name, hometown and state.

The conference spanned four days and included the national FFA debate competition, numerous workshops and presentations, as well as a career show. The National FFA Organization also conducted official business, convening FFA delegates and awarding outstanding members and chapters for accomplishments in agriscience, agribusiness and entrepreneurship. The schedule of events also included a concert given by Taylor Swift of recent country music fame (who incidentally grew up just a few miles down the road from the Rodale farm).

As representatives of the Rodale Institute, educational programs coordinator Maria Pop and interns Alison Grantham, Bart Renner and I manned a booth in the career show hall. This hall was the largest of spaces within the convention center and was packed with booths of organizations ranging from multinational corporations like Kraft Foods and Monsanto to universities and NGOs such as the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service. The U.S. Army and the Marines also had impressive displays, complete with Humvees and battle-zone simulators. We observed an interesting trend: The largest businesses present used gimmicks like Guitar Hero, arcade games and miniature golf to engage FFA students.

Video games and a host of other bells and whistles competed to attract would-be farmers at the career show. Pictured are the new country sensations “Brookes, Bart Renner and Dunn.”

Despite our booth’s lack of video games, we spoke with hundreds of young people and their mentors about Rodale’s mission and what the Institute can offer farmers. Most of the students, advisors and chaperones we met had never heard of the Rodale Institute, and so it became clear that we were taking the first step in bridging an important gap. Organizations from the organic and sustainable agriculture movement have largely been absent from the National FFA Organization’s annual convention, and here at Rodale we are determined to reach this crucial audience. The future of American farming will be determined in part by these young adults.

In addition to promoting our Organic Transition Course and our Farmers Can Be Heroes campaign, we encouraged hundreds of FFA high school members to enter the essay contest the Institute is sponsoring. Rodale is asking students to answer the question, “How can farming restore human and ecological health?” The students’ responses to our pitch were mixed; some were enthusiastic while others quipped that they could neither read nor write well enough to enter such a contest. A $1,000 prize is being offered for the best essay, and there are substantial second- and third-place prizes as well. Each prize also awards the student’s advisor with an additional cash sum.

Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by the receptive response we encountered, considering this demographic has been heavily pursued by conventional agribusiness. A few people did not want to talk to us, or informed us that “I just love my chemicals.” Some told us they were happy to see Rodale there, along with the Organic Valley farmers’ cooperative, Horizon Organics, and the Midwest Organic and Sustanaible Educaton Service (MOSES). I told an older gentleman that this conference was an eye-opener for me, and he responded that Rodale’s presence was an eye-opener for him, and that our continued support of FFA is necessary.

From left to right: Interns Bart Renner, Alison Grantham, Kaitlin Harrigan and Rodale Institute educational programs coordinator Maria Pop worked the crowd of more than 50,000.

It was difficult to gauge how well the conventional agriculture industry has persuaded these young minds to believe that they have no option but to apply anhydrous ammonium fertilizers and petroleum-based herbicides and pesticides to their land and crops. I was struck by how knowledgeable the FFA middle and high school students were. You could even say that I envy their head start; many have grown up on farms and play important roles in their families’ businesses. Some of the students we met even have their own farms.

Two young Organic Valley farmers gave a wonderful presentation about their own families’ dairy and beef operations as well as details on how the successful farming cooperative is run. This workshop was very well attended, as there were no empty seats. The FFA audience also seemed engaged, asking many specific and well-informed questions about everything from homeopathic treatments for dairy cows to crop rotations. (More on this session from one of my intern colleagues at a later update.)

I left the convention inspired and hopeful about the future of farming in this country. However, I believe that the organic movement has much work to do in terms of supporting this demographic. In order to stem the environmental damage and human health issues attributed to conventional food production in America, we must reach out to the young farmers who will determine our farming future.

Kaitlin Harrigan is a native of Massachusetts and an honors graduate of Dickinson College with a Bachelor's in biology. As a student farmer at Dickinson’s organic farm, she discovered the great satisfaction of growing organic produce and living a more sustainable life. After traveling the world via foot, bike, and sailing ship, she aspires to attend graduate school and to run her own small, diversified farm.